University of Dundee

Saturday May 29th 2004, Room T4 (Tower Building) contact Timothy Flanagan (T.E.Z.Flanagan@dundee.ac.uk)

Programme

9.00       Registration (Free)

9.30    Keynote Address: 'Describing Transcendence     
Dr. Paul Davies (Sussex)

10.45   McDowell, Immanence and Theories of Meaning    
Daniel Whiting (Reading)

11.45   'Hegel beyond the end of history    
Paul Barlow (Dundee)

12.30       Lunch

14.00   Levelling the Levels: Deleuze and the Capacity of Knowledge for the Transcendental  
Matt Lee (Sussex)

15.00   Yes, my Lord, Id killed him: Murder as Female Transcendence in a Contemporary Arab Womens Fiction: Min malaff imraaby Layla al-Uthman
O Ishaq Tijani (Edinburgh)

16.00   "Is an Absolutely Transcendent Deity Necessarily Unknowable? The Answer of Karl Rahner"   
Dennis Jowers (Edinburgh)

17.00   Workshop, On Transcending(at pub)

Original Call for Papers

Keynote Speaker: Dr Paul Davies (Sussex)

The notion of transcendence, and the transcendental, permeates the entire western intellectual tradition and continues to stimulate contemporary thought and debate in a variety of areas. Philosophically, this theme is developed within the ‘canon’ of the philosophical tradition, beginning with the likes of Plato and Aristotle, Plotinus, and the neo-Platonists and on through medieval scholars such as Aquinas. Since Kant the theme has been engaged critically by thinkers from the continental tradition such as Nietzsche, Heidegger and Derrida. Transcendental considerations have also motivated thinkers in the analytic tradition, including Frege, Dummett, McDowell and Wright. In literature the notion of transcendence has influenced Joyce and Beckett, while in theology thinkers such as Eckhart have engaged with its significance. 

The conference organisers invite papers from the widest range of theory so that the notion of transcendence may be considered without limitation to any particular approach or era. The conference will take place in Dundee, Scotland, on Saturday 29 May 2004 and abstracts (max 400 words) should be received no later than 15th April. The opening address will be given by Dr Paul Davies (Sussex), with a further four presentations throughout the course of the day. It is proposed that presentations touch upon but not limit themselves to themes such as: 

The possibility of transcendence in a ‘secular’ era
The concept of transcendence in relation to ‘subjectivity’
Transcendence and ontology 
Transcendence and temporality
Deconstruction & hermeneutics
Evidence–transcendence; realism & anti-realism 
Transcendence and fiction
Transcendence and knowledge; transcendental arguments 
The challenge posed to transcendence by philosophies of immanence 
(for example, the Spinozist tradition)
Transcendence and mind; embodiment.
 

Papers should be no longer than thirty minutes, allowing a further fifteen to twenty minutes for constructive and friendly discussion. It is hoped that a range of postgraduate participants from across the humanities will allow for exciting discussion within a supportive atmosphere. 

Registration is free and the organisers are keen to help participants regarding information about accommodation. 

For further contact details, please contact the postgraduate students at Dundee via email: transcendencetradition@hotmail.com; or postal address: 
Philosophy Dept, University of Dundee, Perth Road, DD1 4HN, United Kingdom.